The double bonuses being paid to some ABN Amro staff are ‘modest rewards for hard-working people,’ finance minister Wouter Bos told MPs on Thursday evening.

Earlier MPs reacted angrily to a media reports on Thursday that some 500 bank staff would get two bonuses this year. ABN Amro was nationalised in October.
Bos said the bonuses had been agreed in pay deals between the unions and employers and were largely for staff in the lower pay scales.